Stigmalion - Stark Christina 312 pages

My name is Dolores McBride, and since birth I have suffered from a very rare form of allergy: touching other people causes me severe burns. I can't kiss a guy, hug my parents, or leave the house without wearing gloves. I'm untouchable. It’s as if I’m living in an enchanted castle that holds me captive and punishes me with burns and scars for every attempt to “escape.” She even came up with a name for her prison: Stigmalion.

I am no longer driven into despair by the thought that I will be a prisoner of my diagnosis all my life - and that I will die a prisoner. I don’t flatter myself with dreams that a cure will be invented for my illness, and I don’t expect to meet a person who won’t leave burns on me...

But what a tenacious feeling this is - hope. What if I finally escape from Stigmalion? What if I too can one day experience everything

these are: touches, hugs, kisses, madness, freedom, love?..